Judges 20:13b–17

But the children of Benjamin would not listen to the voice of their brethren, the children of Israel. Instead, the children of Benjamin gathered together from their cities to Gibeah, to go to battle against the children of Israel. And from their cities at that time the children of Benjamin numbered twenty-six thousand men who drew the sword, besides the inhabitants of Gibeah, who numbered seven hundred select men. Among all this people were seven hundred select men who were left-handed; every one could sling a stone at a hair’s breadth and not miss. Now besides Benjamin, the men of Israel numbered four hundred thousand men who drew the sword; all of these were men of war.

Why would the Benjamites not listen to the voice of their brethren?

The brethren make a credible accusation of a horrible crime committed by a gang of a dozen or so men. Surely an investigation is in order. It’s not like that isn’t even possible. Why not at least check it out?

But they’re totally not interested. The text goes on to detail how the Benjamites are greatly outnumbered. Their warriors are highly skilled, but their choice to go to war over this is bizarre.

One might enter a conflict against such superior numbers for a just cause, but to do it in defiance of justice is nuts. The hooligans they’re defending are an embarrassment. What’s going on here?

They don’t care about justice. They don’t care about truth. The only thing they care about is us-versus-them.

And “them” doesn’t even have to mean Gentiles.

Note that the other tribes tried to reason with the Benjamites first—to their credit—even though they had already raised an army. But it seems that they knew that the Benjamites wouldn’t listen. How?

It’s hard to imagine the mindset of a population where everyone did what was right in his own eyes, but there’s a clue in the Levite’s ill-fated decision to not lodge with the Jebusites.

It’s not surprising that he wouldn’t trust them, but his stated reason for not lodging with them was that they aren’t his kinsmen. In other words, the Levite based his decision on an us-versus-them mentality. That attitude seems to be universal.

This hints at the answer to the question of how the other tribes knew that the Benjamites wouldn’t listen. The us-versus-them mentality is everywhere. Everyone expects it.

This connects with the attitude of doing what’s right in one’s own eyes. “Doing what’s right” includes “thinking what’s right.” In other words, everyone thinks that they’re right. Being right all the time means being closed-minded. No one listens. They don’t think they need to.

Hmmm. Maybe that’s not so hard to imagine after all. I see that a lot—even in the mirror.

These Monday—Friday DEEPs are written by Mike Slay. The Weekend DEEPs are written by Matt Richardson. To subscribe to all the DEEPs click here:

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ESV stands for the English Standard Version. © Copyright 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All rights reserved. NIV stands for The Holy Bible, New International Version®. © Copyright 1973 by International Bible Society. Used by permission. All rights reserved. KJV stands for the King James Version.